IT'S TIME TO TELL AMERICA by Charlene E. Cothran
Speech delivered at 1st Annual Banquet for
Americans for Truth About Homosexuality
Friday October 5, 2007
Embassy Suites Hotel, Lombard, IL
Good Evening everyone. To the President and founder of Americans for Truth-Peter LaBarbera and his staff; thank you for inviting me and treating me so graciously.
And to my follow speaker for the evening, Mr. David Parker whose passion and courage amaze me, I can’t wait to hear your testimony; and to all the distinguished guests this evening;
If
you had told me two years ago that I would be a featured
speaker at the Americans For Truth about Homosexuality
banquet, I would have laughed in your face! Because I
was one of those girls who would have been outside across
the street with the gang trying to prevent this from
happening. But God has a way of bringing us full circle,
doesn’t He?
It was right here in Chicago, back in 2003 at a gay pride
event – out in Bryant Park, on a sunlit afternoon where I
should have been the proudest lesbian out there….At any
other pride event, I was always very proud to be there. …
But on
this day a shame fell on me, and something
spoke in my spirit and said: ‘This is that road that’s
leading to destruction, and you are on it.’ And it was such
a loud voice that
I
could no longer ignore that what I was doing and how I was
living was wrong.
And that afternoon, as young people came up to me – saying, ‘Oh, Miss Cothran, I want to be just like you!’ I thought to myself, how am I going to get from where I am back to God? How is that going to happen? And it was a very difficult three years. And it took three years before I finally came to Christ. It was a real battle in the mind.
How do I tell my partner of ten years that I no longer want to be a lesbian or want this life anymore? How do I tell the people who volunteered for my publication – who helped me build it to the point where I could now live on it... how do I tell them that I am no longer your proud, black lesbian?
How do I leave 30 years’ worth of friendships behind – people who … we buried each others’ parents, we buried each others’ neighbors, you know? – friends! … how do I leave that behind?
So it took from 2003 to 2006 before the Lord sent a pastor my way: on a Tuesday afternoon. I wasn’t at church. I was in my car at a mall: God will meet you where you are! I was in New Jersey; we were publishing another small community newspaper. She was calling about that. And we talked about our business, and then she asked me at the end of that conversation: she said, ‘Charlene, where are you in the Lord?’
And of course two voices went off in my head: one of them was like, ‘Yes, pastor, share with me, talk with me! I want to be free from this! Help me!’ But of course the other voice was saying: ‘You tell her you’re a proud lesbian and all the accomplishments you’ve made. As a matter of fact, I’ve got a card in my wallet that proves I’m a lesbian [audience laughter] …And of course, you know which voice won out.
And she let me go on and pontificate for a while and after I finished she said, ‘You know something? …I can tell that you want to come back to God, but you feel unworthy. You feel as though God can’t use you because you’ve been so public about your sins. You feel like you’re damaged goods if you got saved now and came back to the church. And she was so right. I really hadn’t realized it before. The words and the way she spoke it unlocked something in me. I couldn’t speak for several minutes. And it seemed like the Holy Spirit just shut me up long enough to allow this minister, this woman of God, to get some Word in me.
Even as she was speaking, the Spirit of God began to deal with me and said, ‘You know what, you are going to choose today who you are going to serve?’ [Joshua 24:14-16]
And of course the enemy is right in the other ear [saying:] ‘Oh, no, you’re not! You’re not going to get saved today! … You’ve got an appointment at New York City Gay Pride and they’re expecting you in two weeks: what are you going … to say?’
But then my mother’s voice also spoke to me. Because my mother, before she passed away, she looked at me and she said, ‘You know something? I don’t think I’m ever going to see you again. She was a woman of faith. And I knew she meant in glory [heaven]. And she died two months later. And that always stuck with me: ‘I’ve got to see my mother again, that means you’ve got to get out of this [lifestyle]!’
“And so I gave my heart, in my car, in the parking lot of the mall, to Jesus Christ, and He set me free [audience applause]… from 29 years of lesbianism. And so I stand today as an epistle of change. I am proof that change is possible in the homosexuals.
Tonight
I hope you’re in the mood to hear the WHOLE truth because I
have a question for you. My great grandmother used to sing
a song that went…
[Singing…]
’Is there anybody here who loves my Jesus? Anybody here who loves the Lord? Anybody here who loves my Jesus? I wanna know, AMERICANS FOR TRUTH, if you love the Lord?’
This simple gospel song asks a very serious question. I’ve got to know that you really love God. I’m asking this tonight just in case there might be someone in the room who does not necessarily love God; you just hate gays…Well, I want you to know that I am NOT WITH YOU. That's NOT my message.
But if you really love the Lord, then I know that you have the compassion of Christ in your heart for ALL of his people who need to come to the cross, especially gays and lesbians. We ALL have sinned and come short of God’s glory.
There
are certain names that we gay activists just used to hate
and many of them still do.
Jerry Farwell, Pat Robertson, and the ‘loathsome’ Peter
LaBarbera. It seems that anyone who is bold enough to stand
up and say that homosexuality is sin, gets their name added
to the gay activists hate list. And now my name is on
their hate list.
About a month ago I received a letter from a particular gay activist I’ll refer to as the prince of darkness. Here’s a man who at one time supported my work, and even wrote a front page article for VENUS Magazine. In his letter among his many attempted insults he states, “Ms. Cothran you have been brainwashed.” Well I've got news for the prince. He is absolutely right. Not only has my brain been washed, but my heart has been washed and soul has been washed, in the blood of the Lamb! I do not expect that he or others like him can possibly understand what this means. So I ask that you pray for them that the light of God will illuminate their dark hearts one day.
Now that my name has been added to the gay activist hate list, I find that I am actually quite proud of this because it tells me two things:
1. This tells me that I must be doing something right. Gay activists don’t waste their time. They positions themselves to attack ministries that are effective. Peter, your ministry is effective that is why you are under constant attack.
2. If they believe that I've been brainwashed then they are essentially acknowledging that there has indeed been a change in my life. Because remember, these are the people who knew me. All of you are just taking my word for it. They knew me. And they knew that I was a die-hard lesbian. And yet they see and know that I’ve changed. And they can’t attribute it to reparative therapy, and they can’t attribute it to anything except Jesus Christ. And it unnerves them! Because I am living proof that homosexuals can change through a committed relationship with Jesus Christ. [audience applause]
After I gave my heart to Christ, I began to take a closer look at the ministries that we had been trained to hate and why. Americans For Truth, I want you to know that I am not naive about the nature of the work that you do. I believe that this organization has had to position itself to fight a very ugly and very active and powerful segment of the gay community. But I want America to know this small ugly segment does NOT represent ALL of gay America. Most gays and lesbians are hard working, good-willed people who would never parade themselves in the nude, in front of children, down a San Francisco street.
Another very active and powerful segment of the gay community claims that being gay is innate … that all gays are born this way. And I believe that this is the most vicious lie that has been released against God’s people. It is a lie! This is a lie that was hatched in some boardroom, basically so that we could gain civil rights for gays and lesbians. They needed to level the playing field, and this was the one lie that went out.
I remember back in 1994 when a reporter for a gay newspaper came to interview me about VENUS magazine. I remember just how desperate they were to get this lie out. But I never believed it. The young man did the interview and he turned his microphone off. And he then said, ’Well Ms. Cothran, I want you to say when I turn the microphone back on … that all gays and lesbians are born this way because we need you to influence the African American gay community.'
And I said, ‘Well hold on now! I don’t believe that. I’m not going to say something I don’t believe. Absolutely not!’
And I felt satisfied that the interview was over and that would be the end of it. Well, two weeks later when the article came out, they printed the quote anyway as if I had said it!
And I learned then just how desperate they were to get this lie out at any cost. They refused to print a retraction. And, again, I learned a lot, right then and there….
There is no such thing as a gay gene and THEY KNOW IT. Gay activists know this. They KNOW that their house is built on a lie. So now they are scrambling to come up with something, anything to prove their case, like a study of homosexuality in animals. Well, I could care less how many male sheep are homosexual. God did not leave any specific instructions on how to live for those sheep. But he left men and women very specific instructions, in the bible, the Word of God.
And the Word God is clear on the subject of homosexuality. The TRUTH is that it is NOT what God intended.
Another segment of gay community claims that being gay is a religion and that the rights of gays should be granted protection based on the freedom of religion in America. I can assure you, America, that this view does NOT represent all of gay America. Many, like me, were raised in Christian homes and would not dare blaspheme God by worshiping homosexuality nor would they seek to be protected under such a gruesome lie.
Americans for Truth, I’ve come to understand why you’ve had to fight the way you do. You’ve had to fight these small but powerful segments of the gay community while facing the reality that America is no longer a Christian nation.
You've had to fight while our government and leaders say that Christianity is no longer our moral compass. So now in order to be taken seriously by our government you have to remove Christianity from your argument and present only data, studies and facts about homosexuality. The interesting thing about some of facts that you present is that much of what you present as truth has already been published by GAY authors. So I don’t understand why they hate you for publishing what they KNOW is true.
Well, I want you to know that many gays and lesbians are tired of this life and they want out. Many are walking out everyday. Not own their strength but through a committed and personal relationship with Jesus Christ.
And they need the genuine open arms of the church to be there to help them at the point of their need. They need loving and compassionate believers who will embrace them just as they are, and who will continue to walk out with them and not judge them as they grow in grace.
When the Lord saved me, changed me, my appearance was different than you see tonight. But a woman of faith embraced me and began to love me and share with me in a way that my mother would have if she were alive. Perhaps you feel that you have nothing to do with the homosexual who is struggling with deliverance. I say you have everything to do with it. Perhaps it might be your personal ministry to embrace someone and help them to completely walk out as this sister did with me.
I promised God that if He would give me peace of mind, if He would let me meet my mother again in heaven, I would go anywhere that He opens a door and tell America the truth about homosexuality.
I was clearing out some files one afternoon, and I stumbled across a handwritten speech that I delivered in 1993 in Atlanta at the annual Gay & Lesbian Pride celebration. I was a member of their board of directors. The theme we chose that year was: IT’S TIME TO TELL AMERICA.
Later that week I got the call from Peter asking me to come. I accepted immediately because by running across that speech, God was reminding me of my promise ...IT’S TIME TO TELL AMERICA the truth!
So tonight I am revisiting that theme, but I’ve got a NEW message.
IT’S TIME TO TELL AMERICA
Throw away your stereotypes about gays and lesbians. Gays are not evil people—Some of most wonderful, caring and giving people I’ve ever met happen to gay. No, gays are not going to miss heaven because they are evil people. They are going to miss heaven because HOMOSEXUALITY IS SIN, plain and simple. But then the word says in I John 5:17 that ALL unrighteousness is sin. This places their transgressions right up there next to your gossiping, backbiting, and infidelity. It took just as much of Jesus’ blood to cleanse you as it did to cleanse my 29 years of lesbianism.
IT’S TIME TO TELL AMERICA
You’ve been fight this thing the wrong way. It’s time to return to your knees. You’ve tried everything else you could to fight the homosexual movement but the enemy is laughing at you. You’ve tried fighting at the ballot box. You got your president in. You got him in again. You thought that would change things but it did not. You’ve been using the wrong weapon. It is important to be politically active but NOTHING can whip an active prayer life. II Corinthian 10:4 The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to the pulling down of strong holds. Homosexuality is the greater strong hold of this age. This thing has exalted itself against the knowledge of God all over the world. When we return to our knees and pray as if our lives depended on it, pray like our grandparents prayed, then we can get up off our knees and come to the battle WITH victory through faith.
IT’S TIME TO TELL AMERICA
Do not lose hope because your sons and your daughters are coming back home. I am speaking to parents whose hearts have been broken and who have cried a million tears. But be encouraged because your prodigal sons and daughters are getting up out of their slop pens and saying I believe I will return to my father’s house. [audience applause]
America, will you genuinely welcome them home? Will you throw a party for the returning sons and daughters of this nation? Will you be there for them with compassionate open arms to help them to walk out, to get cleaned up spiritually, to help them battle the sense of loneliness that separation from sin can present? Or will you give lip service only, and treat them differently, like their sins were any worse than yours? Will you use a long handled spoon to feed them to avoid guilt by association? Will you shun them and keep them out of your inner circles because of their past? Will you stop thinking about yourself and your reputation long enough to take an ex-gay person under your wing? Yes that means you’ll have be seen with them and serve with them in ministry as they grow in grace. Will you welcome them with your finest robe and throw it around the shoulders of your returning children.
IT’S
TIME TO TELL AMERICA
Stop being afraid!! Stand on the truth and stop being
afraid of political incorrectness. True believers sound
crazy to the rest of the world. We are a peculiar people.
Who else is going to stand for holiness if we don’t? It is
becoming more and more inconvenient to stand for the truth
about homosexuality in America. Gays are pushing for laws
to make it a ‘Hate Crime’ to preach that homosexuality is
sin. But we MUST speak up for Christ without concern about
who likes it. Whether its politically correct or not,
convenient or not we must risk it all for Him as he did for
us at Calvary.
IT’S
TIME TO TELL AMERICA
Hold on because we win in the end. Hebrew 10:14 says cast
not therefore away your confidence, which has great promise
of reward. America, be confident that WE WILL WIN IN THE
END!! The gay political machine will NOT win.
I know it looks dark right now but something is beginning to break. Something is beginning to happen and I know you can feel it. God has had enough. He has heard the cries of those who are lost, trapped and hurting in homosexuality. They may not be crying ‘I want to be straight’ but they are crying from the pain, loneliness and sexual addicted that this life causes.
He has heard the cries of parents whose hearts are broken. And he has sent me to tell you mother, and father to HOLD ON, your children are coming home! He sent me to be your witness, that CHANGE is possible. He has sent me to tell you to be confident, that if God can save a die-hard lesbian who had no shame and made a living being a proud lesbian, he can and will save your child, your husband, your sister or brother that you’ve been praying for. God will keep his promise to you.
I am saved today not because of anything I deserved but because God kept His promise to a praying mother. He promised her that He would bless her seed from generation to generation if she would serve Him. I am standing here today as proof that God keeps his promises.
I deeply regret the pain that my choices caused my mother. I remember thinking, I can hardly wait to see Mommy, to hold her and apologize for pushing all this in her face and for hurting her so badly. But God said, when you get to heaven there will be no need for apologies. He said, here’s what you can do with that regret that’s in your heart. You can stand in the gap for those children who have NOT yet come home and apologize to THEIR parents for them. Just in case they don’t get to hear it on this side, like your mother didn’t. And so I say to you parents tonight, Mommy, I’m so sorry. Daddy, I’m so sorry for hurting you.
Thousand of gays are waking up and are saying out loud that they are sick of this so-called life and they are seeking ways to get back to God. We’re hearing from many of them from all over the world through our website, VenusMagazine.org. They come to read testimonies of others who have walked out. They are come to ask questions and get answers about the truth. America, will you support the ministries that are reaching them for Christ? Your presence here tonight says that you will. Thank you for that support.
